A Wizard’s Secret
chapter-683

"Phew…"

When Merlin awoke from the strange insightful state, the Five-Elemental Wizard Heart regained its calm.

"That was close!"

Merlin whispered softly. Even right now, he was feeling slightly traumatized. The stage of consolidating the Wizard Heart was simply riddled with risks. The slightest misstep could lead to grievous consequences.

However, Merlin felt some regret for having to interrupt his insight. This meant that he gave up a prime opportunity to consolidate a Maxim. Nonetheless, giving up also meant that his Wizard Heart did not collapse.

Thereafter, Merlin flew out of the Flame Maxim zone. He made sure that he stored the evolution process of the ultimate Flame Maxim in his mind so that he could attempt to consolidate a Maxim again in the future.

Next, Merlin flew toward the ultimate Wind Maxim. This time, he did not try to derive any insight for Maxim consolidation. To be fair, consolidating a Maxim was not as easy as it might appear. The fact that Merlin had gained some insight on the spot was simply a stroke of luck.

The Wind Maxim did not give him much insight. Merlin had memorized it firmly in his mind. After all, it was the evolution process of an ultimate Maxim that was desirable even to the Great Legends.

This was only two ultimate Maxims. There was also the Water Maxim and the Light Maxim. Regarding those two Maxims, Merlin did not construct their corresponding spells, so naturally, he would not gain much insight. Nevertheless, they still constituted the evolution process of ultimate Maxims, in which all of them shared some similarities.

Therefore, Merlin also stored them steadfastly in his mind. However, since he was not familiar with these elements, memorizing the evolution process of these two Maxims was not easy. Merlin had spent more than half a month to commit these two Maxims to memory.

"Unfortunately, there's no Darkness Maxim. Otherwise, I might be able to fuse the Darkness-type Wizard Heart and become an actual Great Wizard!"

Merlin noted down all the evolution process of Maxim but regretted that there was no evolution process of a Darkness Maxim. Otherwise, the time frame for Merlin to become an actual Great Wizard would be greatly shortened.

The evolution process of Maxims, especially those of the ultimate Maxims, may not seem very useful at this point but in reality, they had opened a clear pathway or even a shortcut for Merlin to become an Honored Legend.

Merlin could rely on the evolution process of these Maxims to consolidate a Maxim or an ultimate Maxim. Hence, there were not many obstacles left on his path.

Of course, a road can only lead. Whether or not Merlin could consolidate a Maxim would still be dependent on himself as well as the proper opportunities. For example, Merlin's Mind Power had long since achieved the third step of Hallucinating spells yet, remained shy of achieving the Illusory Heart realm.

"Time to go out!"

Merlin looked at the evolution process of these ultimate Maxims. This multi-layered subspace was a huge price sacrificed by the Origin Lord in order to leave behind opportunities that were highly attractive even to Great Legends.

The silver puppet seemed to be omnipresent. The moment Merlin flew out, it reappeared.

"Wizard Merlin, have you memorized the evolution process of the ultimate Maxims?"

"I've memorized them!"

Merlin nodded with a smile.

"It seems like you've received a fruitful bounty. The Origin Lord left these behind just as a precaution. Nevertheless, while the evolution of Maxims may be beneficial, they may not be very useful to the average Spell Casters. This is because very few Wizards can derive sufficient insight to consolidate a Maxim and become a Great Legend! Only Spell Casters who are truly talented will reflect the true value of these gifts."

Merlin understood clearly the meaning of the silver puppet's words. Not all talented Spell Casters would become a Great Legends but all Great Legends came from talented Spell Casters.

This logic was as clear as day. If an average Great Wizard memorized the evolution process of these Maxims even for the rest of his life, it might not make a difference. The reason the Origin Lord had set up these challenges was to ensure that the Spell Casters who received the evolution process of his Maxims were true prodigies.

Any Spell Caster who had managed to pass these two challenges could definitely be regarded as a prodigy. Even a civilization-level prodigy might face difficulty in overcoming the second challenge.

"You said there's also the third challenge?"

Merlin asked the silver puppet. Since the Origin Lord was such a powerful Lord, the third challenge he had left behind must be extraordinary. However, passing it would also most certainly fetch a greater prize.

"The third challenge? That challenge is prepared for a Great Legend. A powerful Great Legend, in fact. Do you want to try?"

The silver puppet seemed somewhat eager for Merlin to accept the third challenge.

"Prepared for a Great Legend?"

Merlin deliberated for a moment. The Origin Lord was a Great Lord, so the challenge he left behind would be extraordinary. However, the more difficult the challenge, the greater the prize would be.

A treasure left behind for a Great Legend would undoubtedly be sophisticated. Although Merlin was not yet a Great Legend, he was a Spell Caster with the highest achievements prior to becoming a Great Legend in the history of Spell Casters. Even a civilization-level prodigy was no match for Merlin.

Therefore, he could not be evaluated with ordinary standards.

"Since I'm already here, I must give it a try!"

Merlin also seemed eager to try.

"Very well, come with me to the third layer subspace!"

The silver puppet led Merlin into the third layer subspace.

"Swish."

Upon entering the third layer subspace, Merlin was surprised to find that the subspace seemed to be filled with brilliant multi-colored lights.

Merlin saw that in the empty space, there was a multi-colored ball of light suspended in the air, seemingly hiding something. Underneath this multi-colored ball of light, there were seven staircase steps. They were seven colors in all; red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and purple.

"Merlin, look at those seven different colored staircase steps. Once you've climbed all seven steps, you can walk up to the multi-colored ball of light and obtain the treasure left behind by the Origin Lord! As for this treasure, even a Lord would go crazy over it…"

The silver puppet looked at the multi-colored ball of light with an intricate expression.

Merlin's eyes sparkled. A treasure that would drive even a Lord crazy was definitely extraordinary. He was very excited. Nonetheless, looking at the seven different colored steps, he did not dare underestimate it.

"I'll try!"

Merlin quickly flew toward the seven staircase steps. Then, he came to the red first step. Merlin could sense that these seven staircase steps contained a mighty power. Therefore, he hesitated for a moment but finally decided.

"Boom."

As soon as Merlin set foot on the red first step, a series of runes quickly formed a Runic Magic Circle and trapped Merlin.

"Runic Magic Circle? Break!"

Seeing that it was a Runic Magic Circle, Merlin heaved a breath of relief. Although the Runic Magic Circle was strong enough to bind a Great Legend, Merlin's abilities were now comparable to a two-Maxim Legend.

Therefore, he wielded his spell, fashioned it into a long spear, and tore the Runic Magic Circle.

"That wasn't too difficult."

Merlin passed through the red first step easily. Hence, without any hesitation, he was prepared to climb onto the orange second step.

This time, Merlin felt blocked by an invisible barrier, preventing him from landing his foot on the orange second step.

"This bit of power can't stop me!"

Behind Merlin, the Five-Elemental Wizard Heart loomed. A surge of Magic Power rapidly wrapped around Merlin. Then, with the power of the Wizard Heart, Merlin broke through the invisible barrier and stepped onto the orange second step.

Merlin stopped for a moment on the second step of the staircase. He was gathering his strength before taking another aggressive step.

"Boom."

An even more powerful force appeared. The third step, the fourth step, the fifth step…

Merlin advanced step by step, seemingly unstoppable. The Wizard Heart on his body was unleashing all its power.

However, upon arriving at the fifth step, Merlin was unable to land on the step. Even his Five-Elemental Wizard Heart dimmed a little but Merlin still could not enter the green fifth step.

Merlin knew that this was his limit. He could not go any further. His attempt of the third challenge was a failure!

In a distance, the silver puppet's face also revealed a look of disappointment. The puppet appeared to be dismayed that Merlin did not manage to clear all seven steps of the staircase in a single try.

"Wizard Merlin, don't worry. You still have a chance to attempt the third challenge again!"

Merlin nodded. He cast another glance at the seven staircase steps, and left the third layer subspace with the silver puppet. They returned to the first layer subspace.

Merlin was just about to leave when his eyes landed on the warship halved by the Origin Lord. This was an empire-level warship of the Atlan civilization. As for the Atlan civilization, Merlin would not underestimate them at all. Perhaps, there were some bounties to be found inside.

"I would like to enter this warship. Is that possible?"

Merlin knew that the silver puppet controlled the entire multi-layered subspace, so he asked the silver puppet.

"Oh? You're a smart one! This is an Atlan civilization's empire-level warship. Just because Master did not find anything useful inside doesn't mean that you won't either. There are indeed some good things inside but whether or not you can obtain it is up to you. However, I must warn you. Although this warship has been destroyed by Master, some of the puppets in it have gradually recovered. Furthermore, I don't know if anything has changed. So, you must be careful!"

Merlin nodded. "I'll be careful. Can I go in now?"

Merlin's heart was bursting with excitement. An empire-level warship was a terrifying vessel that was comparable to an Honored Legend. In fact, just the liquid memory metal robots alone tempted Merlin to no end.

If only he could obtain a large quantity of such resilient robots, then his worry about the loss of Spell Casters would no longer be a material concern. This was well-suited to confront the Church of Light!

Thus, brimming with excitement, Merlin swiftly flew toward the humongous warship!